Played My First Taylor Last Night...

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stetto

stetto

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...And it didn't convince me to get one...

Went to a showcase for a local singer/songwriter, a 17 year old kid who actually has a lot of potential...At the end of the show someone talked him into getting me onstage to play one of my tunes (a tacky move), and though I tried to refuse, the small (very small) crowd had convinced themselves that they needed to hear me...He let me play his Taylor...Don't know which model, though it was a cutaway and he told me later that it cost him $1400 (a lower end model then... ;) ).

I'm going to say first that the guitar was set up like shit, action was way off the fretboard, strings looked almost as old as my first car ('64 Bel Aire), but I just wasn't as impressed as I told myself I'd be...It had a thin, restricted tone, regardless of string age, and the individual strings were hard to find (I fingerpick mostly)...

I'm sure that there are countless Taylors out there that play like butter and sing as the angels, but it wasn't this one...Bad, bad first impression, I'm afraid...

...Oh, did I mention that I was full of beer too?... :eek:

I like my Seagull more every day....

Eric
 
I'd have to say that a well kept Taylor is sweet. That "kid" may not know how to take care of a guitar. And all the Taylors I've played cost more than $2K. I've wanted one since the first time my pick raked the strings.

Don't judge a brand by one bad experience.
 
I'm with you Eric. I HATE the sound of Taylors. Way too bright. Seagulls have a lot more soul. I play Martins myself. But I used to have a seagull which I loved. Cedar is a sweet sounding wood.
 
yeah, martins all the way for me. i just picked up a j-41. i have never been impressed with taylors...
 
chris-from-ky said:
I'd have to say that a well kept Taylor is sweet. That "kid" may not know how to take care of a guitar.
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I'll go so far as to say he definitely didn't know how to take care of a guitar...Likely because no one had ever mentored him on the care and feeding. His string guage of choice was 12's, no problem (I like 11's), severely oxidized and pH burned, so I doubt he changed them often. I'm sure that a neck setup would have made all the difference. He played a two-hour show, and went out of tune about every other song. That's way unacceptable to me...

...all the Taylors I've played cost more than $2K. I've wanted one since the first time my pick raked the strings.
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I've heard this from a lot of folks, I assume that Taylor makes a wonderful instrument, though I'll say that the main reason you see so many of them used by national recording artists is because they're endorsing the product (though I know if the guitar wasn't any good, the performers might do photo ops for the endorsement and play something else at work)..

You bring up another interesting point--When the kid played that $1400 Taylor, the most prominant sound was the pick on the strings, "raking" being a very apt term...Blame old dead strings, but it got irritating after a while...

Don't judge a brand by one bad experience.
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Naw, not me. I judge each instrument by itself. I've played a LOT of axes in the last 32 years, and have found that there are lemons and peaches from all brands...I happen to own a $300 Seagull that plays like butter and sounds full and sweet, but for all I know I got lucky...
 
From a soundguy's perspective, I feel part of why Taylors got popular was they consistently sounded good plugged in. For a time, I was always happy to see a Taylor at a gig, I knew I'd get a usable sound quick. Never cared for them unplugged, though, except for a few here and there.

ps- pick on string noise doesn't seem (to me) to be the guitar's fault.
 
I am very happy with my Taylor. Hearing all pick sound is player, not guitar, related. Too bad that kid has a nice guitar but not the knowlege or ambition to maintain it.
 
Interesting thread. Guitars are like politics, love the one and hate the other. I bought my Taylor 814ce after playing a friends Taylor, and just could not take the sound that my current guitar was making after being spoiled with his guitar. I tried out many of the "top" brands at a custom shop in Atlanta before making my decision.

Funny thing, I play acoustic guitar in the Praise Band at my church and the Praise leader, also a guitar player and one of the electric players who sometimes plays acoustic guitar, have for the last 2 years talked about how over-rated and over-priced the Taylors are. From time to time they would pick up my guitar to play a few licks, and now they both own Taylors.

I believe there are a lot of great guitars out there, and whatever flavor works for you, that's the one for you.
 
boingoman said:
ps- pick on string noise doesn't seem (to me) to be the guitar's fault.
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Logged and noted...I don't use a pick (being a finger-pickin' bass player for all these years, I guess), and even when I try I can't keep a grip on one...

...I used to try and play bass with a pick once in a while, for the express purpose of getting that "click" ala Chris Squire...Just can't keep the pick between my fingers.... :(

Eric
 
stetto said:
Logged and noted...I don't use a pick (being a finger-pickin' bass player for all these years, I guess), and even when I try I can't keep a grip on one...

...I used to try and play bass with a pick once in a while, for the express purpose of getting that "click" ala Chris Squire...Just can't keep the pick between my fingers.... :(

Eric
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Super glue! ;^)
 
ggunn said:
Super glue! ;^)
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Boogers.

Stetto, yeah, picks take some work. It took loosening my grip, not tightening it, for them to work for me.
 
Hmmm....A tough one, but I'd go with the boogers too...They're bountiful (depending on how many guys in the band), release with the least amount of moisture, and I wouldn't have to squeeze anything to get a fingerfull... :p

I did have a pick at one time that worked fairly well for me, made of brass or copper (brass, I think)...Thinner than a piece of paper, and even when I'd occasionally let one finger loose of it, it tended to stay put on the other finger...Was a noisy sucker though... :o

Eric
 
I was talking to a friend the other day who has one of the best acoustic guitar stores in the world (really, he does), and one of the brands he carries is Taylors. He said that when people come in, if they play even ONE of the many very fine handmade guitars in his shop, they NEVER buy a Taylor. Even if they came in specifically to buy a Taylor, He can always hand them a guitar they like more.

Personally, I LOVE Taylor as a company. I know of no one who is better at customer, dealer, and warranty center relations.

But their guitars are boring as hell.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
stetto said:
I'll go so far as to say he definitely didn't know how to take care of a guitar...Likely because no one had ever mentored him on the care and feeding. His string guage of choice was 12's, no problem (I like 11's), severely oxidized and pH burned, so I doubt he changed them often. I'm sure that a neck setup would have made all the difference. He played a two-hour show, and went out of tune about every other song. That's way unacceptable to me...



I've heard this from a lot of folks, I assume that Taylor makes a wonderful instrument, though I'll say that the main reason you see so many of them used by national recording artists is because they're endorsing the product (though I know if the guitar wasn't any good, the performers might do photo ops for the endorsement and play something else at work)..

You bring up another interesting point--When the kid played that $1400 Taylor, the most prominant sound was the pick on the strings, "raking" being a very apt term...Blame old dead strings, but it got irritating after a while...



Naw, not me. I judge each instrument by itself. I've played a LOT of axes in the last 32 years, and have found that there are lemons and peaches from all brands...I happen to own a $300 Seagull that plays like butter and sounds full and sweet, but for all I know I got lucky...
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The main reason those guys play them is because they all sound the same. They're interchangable. If you break one who cares??? They have 20 more of them and they're all the same.
 
PHILANDDON said:
I'm with you Eric. I HATE the sound of Taylors. Way too bright. Seagulls have a lot more soul. I play Martins myself. But I used to have a seagull which I loved. Cedar is a sweet sounding wood.
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Yeah, I've always thought Taylors were too bright and not enough low end on them. Until I came across this all Koa model. This thing has incredible low end on it.
 
FWIW, I love my Taylor 314CE. I tried out about 30 guitars of different makes and models over a couple of months, and this one was the best for me, all things considered (playability, tone, cost, what I needed it for, etc.). YMMV.

BTW, they don't all sound the same to me. The one I chose was one of three very similar Taylors, and it had better low end than the other two.
 
Heh, funny, I've played a lot of acoustics (though no really high-end models that I remember), and only two really stand out as exceptional to me; a 1977 Ovation Balladeer and a Yamaha 12 string a few years later...Up until I played my first Seagull, which convinced me to buy one for myself...

Anymore I hear all this shit about Ovation, and I remember a really sweet guitar...that slid off'n my lap slicker'n shit all the time, but hey, I loved the sound of the thing...I'd love to have the time and resources (meaning a place that sells them) to play some really nice guitars, but what we got around here is Marguerite's, who sells cookie-cutter guitars...

Eric
 
Personally, I don't have a problem with Tayloer - I know that they're often fabulous guitars. I saw Doyle Doykes (the Taylor promo guy) play one time at a local Taylor dealer (this was in 2000/2001ish) cause they were bringing out Doyle's custom model and I gotta say that it was phenominal...MAN can that guy play. He went through a bunch of models and played some of his fingerstyle stuff (ala Brice Cockburn). I was very impressed with the Guitars...

HOWEVER - that being said - I'd never buy one. They're way overpriced in my opinion and (sorry to say) but I think Martins are overpriced as well. A lot of what you're paying for is name in my (very humble) opinion. I like the guitars, but I don't think I'd buy one.

I'm very, very happy with my Alvarez Yairi. (DY91)

Jacob
 
the quality difference between a $1500 acoustic and a $4000 acoustic is not as drastic as the difference between a $100 acoustic and say a $1000. you are right. but, having played, and now owned, a $4000 guitar, i would say the difference is mainly in the little things. the details. and worth it. imo but then again, it all depends on what you are doing with the instrument. are you playing live? campfires? studio? i, for certain would not take mine to a camfire. haha, but it definately proves worthy in a studio.
 
foreverain4 said:
the quality difference between a $1500 acoustic and a $4000 acoustic is not as drastic as the difference between a $100 acoustic and say a $1000.=QUOTE]


although, guitar center was selling some guitars about a year ago for $50 that sounded REALLY good...
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